1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to a system and method for configuring punches, and more particularly, to a system and method for configuring, selecting and positioning punches for use with media in imagesetters or platesetters in the graphic arts industry.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In industries where web or sheet substrates are handled, there is often a need for providing punch holes, typically along an edge of the substrate, for securing or aligning the substrate on various machines. The positioning of the punch holes is sometimes critical.
One example of a machine which uses punches is an imagesetter or platesetter for transferring images onto photosensitive, light-sensitive or thermally sensitive media to make films and plates for subsequent transfer onto a finished product via a printing press. In the printing process, films are overlaid and must be aligned accurately to ensure a good quality image. Also, plates must be aligned on the printing press for accurate printing. Toward this end, registration openings or holes are punched in the films or plates to serve as alignment guides. The location of each pixel on each film or plate is determined with respect to the registration holes which are punched along an edge of the media, generally either the leading edge or a side edge. Typically, the openings must be punched within an accuracy of 0.001 inches (depending on the particular media used) with respect to the image on the medium. Examples of the use of low profile side punches in an internal drum imagesetter are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/240,982 filed on Jan. 29, 1999 by Krupica et al. This application is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety for background information which is non-essential, but useful in understanding the principles of the current invention.
The installation of punches on a machine can be considered in two parts. The first part is the mechanical installation of selected punches on the machine in the appropriate configuration. The second part is providing the machine with punch configuration data to account for the proper use and positioning of the punches which have been installed. Typically, punches are manually installed and information concerning the punch configuration is manually key-punched into the machine controller.
The issue of installing punches onto an imagesetter was addressed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/028,734 filed on Feb. 24, 1998 by Lynch et al. which is incorporated by reference in its entirety for background information which is non-essential, but useful in understanding the principles of the current invention. In the past, it was necessary to install punches onto imagesetters at the factory where expensive machining tools were used to maintain the necessary accuracy. The ""734 application discloses an improved method and apparatus for installing and aligning punches in an imaging system at any field or customer location using a punch band template. However, figuring out the placement of punches, then key punching that information along with other punch information to the imagesetter is done manually.
A primary object of the present invention is to overcome the above and other shortcomings in the prior art by providing an improved punch configuration method which is useful in any application where accurate punch alignment is desired or required for punching holes into either a web or sheet fed substrate.
A method, which is implemented via software on a computer, configures punches to be used on a web or sheet handling machine. The method includes: determining a queue of jobs to be processed on the machine; gathering setup information for each job; defining a punch configuration for each job; establishing punch sharing between jobs; and generating one or more punch configuration files for each job. The method can be transferred to a computerized controller via a computer-readable medium containing punch configuration code.